Some things you can expect us to be giving away or selling:
Various household knick knacks
Clothes (adult and children)
Toys
Electronics
Furniture (either now or when we move – claim it now!)
Magazines and other publications

Some things we would like to get from trades:
Energy efficient appliances
Medicine cabinet
Bunk beds
High quality wooden bookshelves and/or someone to make built-in shelves

It’s that time of year when we all look around and realize that we’ve amassed a lot of, well, stuff. It could be from holidays, winter crafting, or just holding onto things. Here’s your chance to trade, barter, and/or give away! Get rid of that second blender that Aunt June gave you and maybe pick up a new pair of socks!

This swap will be held in at Mel Casano’s house, in the basement (the concrete floor is more forgiving to tracked-in snow). Park at the Incodema parking lot and come through the backdoor. There will be a few tables for people to set up their stuff, but more would probably be helpful, if you happen to have one that’s easy to transport.

Like this:

Join Cornell Cooperative Extension for the first ever Seedy Sunday in Ithaca! Bring your extra seeds to swap and share with others – they can be home-saved seeds or purchased seeds that you have in surplus. Plus talks and workshops on seed saving and community seed libraries. Free event!

11:00 am – 11:30 am: Screening of the film Seeds of Freedom, featuring environmental activist Vandana Shiva The film charts the story of seed from its roots at the heart of traditional, diversity-rich farming systems across the world, to being transformed into a powerful commodity, used to monopolize the global food system. Seeds of Freedom seeks to challenge the idea that large-scale, industrial agriculture is the only means by which we can feed the world. In tracking the story of seed it becomes clear how the corporate agenda has driven the takeover of seed in order to make vast profit and control of the global food system.

11:30 am – 12:15 pm: Seed Saving for Beginners (and children!) Learn the basics of getting started with seed saving and get some hands-on experience in seed cleaning. This workshop will empower you to start saving your own seeds this year! Learn how to make Magic Seed Wands for children, and how to construct seed cleaning tools from recycled materials. Presented by Sean Dembrosky of Edible Acres http://www.edibleacres.org/index.htm

12:30 pm – 1:15 pm: Advanced Seed Saving and Selection Techniques We’ve all seen tomato blossoms turning to seed-laden fruits, but have you ever seen a parsnip or carrot plant blossom and go to seed? Come learn about biennial life cycles of root crops and the art and science (mostly the former!) of growing them on to the seed-producing stage. Learn about selection, overwintering of the first year roots, replanting in spring, flowering, seed harvesting and drying. Bring any and all questions related to seed and feel free to share what you’ve learned from your garden, as well! Presented by Petra Page-Mann of Fruition Seeds http://fruitionseeds.com/

1:30 pm – 2:15 pm: Restrictions on Saving Seed in the EU In the US, we are very fortunate that there currently are no restrictions on saving seed to sell or share with others. However, in the European Union, it’s a vastly different situation, with prohibitive registration fees and tight controls over who is allowed to produce seed. Much of this legislation has been driven by the multi-national agriculture companies in order to protect their profits and this has spurred a lively resistance movement in the EU for “Seed Sovereignty”. Presented by Chrys Gardener, CCE staff and former manager of the Irish Seed Savers Association http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm: Roundtable Discussion on Seed Saving Join us for an open discussion on seed saving techniques and anything else to do with seeds! All are welcome to bring questions, tips, and ideas. Discussion leaders include experienced seed savers Tim Springston of Oxbow Farm http://www.farmhack.net/wiki/oxbow-farm, Petra Mann-Page and Matthew Goldfarb of Fruition Seeds http://fruitionseeds.com/, and Chrys Gardener, CCE staff.

What: Bring anything that you would like to trade, give, swap or sell cheap. Focus on educational materials, books, and games, but household items, clothes, etc. are welcome. Please be prepared for the possibility of bringing some things home if necessary.

Where: 966 Comfort Rd. Danby – about 12 minutes from downtown Ithaca

When: Tuesday, 7/10 4pm to ~7:30.

This will also be a potluck for those who would like. Bring music, instruments, etc, to play too!

Like this:

Considering organizing a swap but not sure how to do it? Teresa Porri, pictured above in a sweater she knitted, shares her experiences with organizing yarn swaps at her home.

I was inspired enough by the set up of Share Tompkins that I decided to host an occasional swap of my own with a very specific focus: fiber arts. People who are not interested in working with string may not be aware of this, but Ithaca has dozens if not hundreds of talented spinners, knitters, crocheters, and lacemakers. I happen to know a bunch of them, and I happen to know that this is a group that often has big plans that don’t pan out, so we often end up with extra materials.

I thought that I would put together a post in case anyone else is considering a similar kind of swap focusing on a very specific sub-group. (I could see this working well as, say, a seed/plant swap, or with art supplies, or for homeschoolers – any group that ends up collecting a lot of lightly-used stuff of roughly comparable value.)

I invited people by personal email, by mentioning it in person at one of the craft get-togethers I participate in, and through the Ithaca message board on Ravelry.com (a huge online fiber arts community.)

About 10 people have showed up when I host this, and this seems like a good number. I think larger numbers work well for more general swaps because you never know what someone will bring or be interested in, but for a more specific trading environment, keeping it a little smaller is fine. It’s usually ended up being a good mix of huge and tiny stashes, larger and smaller pocketbooks, more and less
experienced knitters.

I set up my dining room table on one side of a room with as many leaves as it holds, then had chairs in a circle next to it for people who wanted to socialize, knit, and eat. The most recent time I hosted the yarn swap, I put a laundry basket to one side with a “FREE” sign on it.

One thing I worried about the first time I arranged one of these swaps was whether people would be trying too hard for a 1-to-1 trade, but after the first person said “Eh, you can keep it,” the whole room really opened up. The presence of the
Freebie basket” helped this happen more quickly the second time I had a swap. Everyone passed along whatever generosity came their way; as far as I could tell, everyone went away happy. This is something I’ve found at Share Tompkins before; the presence of generosity in others makes everyone feel more generous. I still have a huge bucket of freebie yarn in my house that people didn’t want to bring home with them. It is going to be distributed in a few different ways – I’ll be bringing some of it to the next Really Really Free Market, some to Sew Green, and some will go to charity. (If you have a charity project that you need yarn for, feel free to contact me at tjporri@gmail.)

One problem, though: I always seriously underestimate the amount of yarn that shows up. Some people make multiple trips to carry it all. The table overflows onto the floor, where bag and Rubbermaid tubs full of yarn sit ready to go. Having each person keep their yarn near them is easier organizationally, but having a communal pile seems more inviting. Some people carefully label skeins, but most people use the “hold up a skein and holler that they like it until its owner shows up” method of identification. Having one or two people who bring a TON of yarn also seems to serve as a social lubricant. It’s partly that generosity thing again – the person who brings a ton of yarn usually doesn’t want to bring it back home! But it’s also really fun to mix and match and daydream with like-minded folks.

Having a computer handy was useful; there were occasional checks on Ravelry or yarn sellers to find out the fiber content of something, or the retail price, or to remind someone what weight yarn they needed for that gorgeous scarf pattern that they’d seen recently.

One great side effect of this kind of trading environment is that it seems to be a great stimulant for creativity. People talk about what they had in mind when they bought the yarn, people hold two very different colors together and try to figure out how to mix them together. One person describes a pattern they saw, and two weeks later you’ll see someone else knitting it with yarn they got at the swap. I’m knitting baby toys and a sweater for my niece who will be arriving this summer from swap yarn, and my head is chock-full of plans I didn’t have before.

If you’ve had an idle thought about doing something like this, I really encourage you to try it. I’ve had great fun with it and will definitely hold more yarn swaps in the future.

Come participate in the Ithaca Free Barter Market, a new community based trade event, using Ithaca Hours as a base currency. The event will be a truly free market, allowing free barter between people, as well as using Ithaca Hours as the backbone to facilitate trade. We are asking participants to bring things they want to sell or trade as well as submit a lists of things you have to sell or want to buy so that we can compile them. If you have Ithaca Hours, please bring them to the event, if you don’t we will be providing micro loans as seed money. If you have questions or comments, feel free to email Lucas Bonnet at Whirlingdervishofrevolution@gmail.com

Looking for some interesting gifts for friends and family but not looking to break your bank account? Need to get rid of some stuff? Come to Ithaca College’s Take It Or Leave It sustainable gift swap, where you can do both of these things! The gift swap is brought to you by ICES (the IC Environmental Society), REMP (IC’s Resource and Environmental Management Program), and Share Tompkins.

Donate your gently used clothes, odds and ends, school supplies, kitchen supplies, books, movies, etc. to the gift swap and avoid sending it to the landfill. And rather than buying something new and increasing demand for extraction of natural resources, you may find something that one of your loved ones could really use or appreciate.

The event will be held Thursday, December 8th, from 8am – 5pm in Emerson Suite B in Campus Center at Ithaca College. Drop off your donations as early as 8am or any time throughout the day until 5pm, and browse for as long as you wish.

There will also be food (including vegan hot chocolate!), music, and fun such as face painting and hula hooping, and space to just take a break and kick back. We will also be raffling off sustainable items and gift certificates to local businesses, such as Finger Lakes ReUse and Collegetown Bagels.

This event is entirely free and open to the public. The more the merrier! For additional info and individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations contact Margaret Keating.